The tyranny of distance

The tyranny of distance didn't stop the cavalier

So why should it stop me? I'll conquer and stay free

Split Enz - Six Months in a Leaky Boat

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The province of San Agustin in the Philippines celebrated its annual market day on the 26th of August. Every one of the surrounding fifteen barangays (villages) brought fruit, vegetables, fish and crafts to sell.

The Payawpao Orchids saw this as a perfect opportunity to sell their crafts and Erna was dispatched to arrive nice and early the night before to get the stall setup. Erna waited outside her house for a tricycle to pick her up. No tricycle came and she gave up after a two hour wait. This story has a happy ending in that the Meaningful Volunteer motorcycle came to the rescue and Erna, the Payawpao Orchid stock, a sign and her two children (!) were transported to San Agustin.

But what is there were no Meaningful Volunteer motorcycle? What would Erna have done? Expensive and time consuming options abound. She could have hired a "single", which means paying a motorcycle owner to transport her. This would cost a very pricey 100 pesos ($US 2.08). Or she could have walked the 10km or so. Neither option is ideal.

This tale highlights one of the many problems facing developing communities around the world: The logistical challenge of get stuff from A to B. The roads here in San Agustin are largely pot-holed ridden dirt tracks that are serviced by privately owned tricycles. The roads take their toll both in terms of travel time and damage to the tricycles which all add to the overall costs.

Sometimes I think that an organization like the United Nations should just bite the bullet and fix the roads across all developing countries. This will give tremendous boasts to:

• The economy
  People will be able to move goods quickly and cheaply.
  
  
• Health
  Sick people can be bought to hospitals quickly and safely.
  
  
• Education
  Kids will have a much easier time getting to school
  
  
• Decreasing road causalities
  Africa especially suffers from the curse of unsafe, overloaded, poorly maintained vehicles traveling at unsafe speeds on pot-holed ridden roads. It always baffles me why visitors to Africa go to such lengths to protect themselves from tropical diseases, but think nothing of jumping into the aforementioned vehicles. The malaria won't kill you, but the public transport might.

The soon-to-be-complete online Meaningful Shop will no doubt help the the Payawpao Orchids to reach markets that have been traditionally beyond their reach. Meaningful Volunteer is working closely with the group to help them to develop crafts that have a high price density (dollars per kilogram) that go someway to overcoming the burdensome transport costs and the Tyranny of Distance.